


Loss

by starfish8727



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, Loss, One Shot, Reflection, Self-Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 04:48:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3106625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starfish8727/pseuds/starfish8727
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Men created the concept of time; it is their way of measuring their achievements (& failures). Time meant nothing to him, time was irrelevant, but as the darkness encroached upon his realm he began to contemplate how his world had changed, how he had changed, and he knew that he could only do this using the man-made concept of time.</p><p>Oneshot</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loss

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever frantic....although I have had many in my head over the years.

He stood on the balcony, one hand at his side the other resting on the ornately decorated balustrade. He remembered the time he first stood in that very location, when the balcony was new and the climbing vines had not taken hold. He looked down at his hand that rested and he tilted his head in thought. The light caught one of the rings on his fingers and momentarily the light shone back into his right eye. He swiftly lifted his hand and walked to the far side of the balcony.

He uncharacteristically leaned over the feature that prevented him from falling into the floor below in order to try and see if he could spot the 'secret' rendezvous he had heard a maid and a guard whispering about between his son and the captain of the guard. He had not chastised the maid and guard for engaging in idle gossip about the Crown Prince, but he had noticed how the boy looked at her and how his eyes sparkled when the girl entered the room. Instead he opted to covertly investigate the situation himself through observing and listening. The girl in question was still young, he was unsure of her age as he did not bother himself with the man-made concept of time, but she was younger than his son and her behaviour was sometimes rash but always driven by what she felt was right. He had promoted her to Captain of the Guard due to her extraordinary tracking ability and her skills with all manner of weapons. 

As he leant further over the edge of the balcony he began to think about how foolhardy his son would be if he was to conduct his secret rendezvous in sight of his father's private quarters. As the thought passed through his mind he knew his son wasn't that foolhardy, yes it was clear he had feelings for the elleth but he wasn't so blinded by love or lust that he couldn't think straight. He decided that if his son was to conduct a private rendezvous he most certainly wouldn't do it there. 

With this decision he leant back and the heels of his feet once again touched the marble floor. He turned and leaned back against the edge of the balustrade and began to marvel at its beauty. Each baluster was the colour of deep mahogany with a mixture of clematis armandii and lornicera periclymenum intertwined with twisted branches that formed the entire balustrade. The floor of the balcony was black marble with flecks of silver that would catch the twilight stars when the trees surrounding the palace had shed their heavy burden allowing the light of the moon and stars to shine down upon his kingdom. He remembered that it had not always looked this beautiful. When he first game to Greenwood with his father the palace and halls looked plain as the flowers and vines had not yet adorned any of the wooden structures. 

His kingdom looked very different to the one his father had ruled over, he had less subjects and the realm had shrunk significantly and he was now forced to trade with the humans in Laketown. He had previously traded with the dwarfs,but that trading relationship had ended when he had not helped the dwarfs. He had chosen to ride away from them, not because he thought their cause was unjust, but because he didn't want to risk anymore of his people's lives. He knew it had been the right choice but it had caused him to lose someone and something precious to him.

He took a deep breath through his nose. The crisp air stung slightly but he found its freshness invigorating.

He walked into his bed chamber and effortlessly picked up the mahogany chair that was at his desk and carried it back to the balcony. He sat inhaling the crisp air and closed his eyes. He listened to the air carry the sounds of laughter, chatter and singing to his ears. He sighed. His mind drifted back to when he first arrived in Greenwood and the celebrations his father would oversee. These thoughts made him smile.

He had been leaning against a tree when he had first seen her, she was smiling and laughing as an elf spun her round out of time to the music. She had been wearing a pale blue dress with white and silver threaded and beaded detailing. Her light blonde hair swept around her and her dancing partner and she span round and then they fell. Elves are graceful in every way but the two had landed on the floor in a tangled mess of legs entwined and twisted causing a few others to stop what they were doing and look at the pair. Both lay on their backs and were laughing unashamed of their unelven collapse. She had looked enchanting as she propped herself up on her elbows and related her head back. The elf she had been dancing with had held out his hand to help her up. He had been stunned by her beauty as she had been lifted from the floor and spun round by her former dancing partner. It was at that moment, just after she had stopped spinning he had made eye contact with her from across the room. He stood up straight, slightly flustered by the eye contact with the beautiful she-elf and straightened his clothes as he bowed his head in acknowledgement of their eye contact. He had smiled and she had smiled back.

\--------------

He stood up and walked back to the edge of the balcony. He sighed and leant forward resting his elbows on the balustrade and then his chin in his hands. As the music drifted upwards a familiar tune reached his ears. He closed his eyes and let the music engulf him, it embraced him like an old friend and it felt like he was slowly being rocked and comforted, like a mother comforts a distressed child.

His thoughts drifted back to her and one of only two times he had cried. He had returned home from the Battle of Dagorlad victorious but as King. He hadn't seen her in the crowd and his heart had sunk further into the abyss as he had stood in front of his people and did not see the she-elf he loved. The hall had been elaborately decorated to welcome the returning army and the new King, his crown had been made out of the leaves and flowers from all corners of his kingdom, he was surrounded by people, but he felt alone.

He had summoned her; he had greeted her dressed in a fine black tunic with green leaves and floral patterns embroidered onto the breast matched with black trousers and boots. He had made a point of wearing his crown to subconsciously reinforced his position over her. She had been brought to his private quarters and his heart skipped a beat when she entered the room. He hadn't seen her for what felt like an age, yet she looked as lovely and enchanting as the first evening he had seen her when she had lain on the floor head thrown back laughing. 

When she entered his private chambers she was wearing a woven plain green tunic over a beige shift dress with a brown belt fastened just below her waist. Although she looked like a vision of loveliness she was dressed as though she was going to market and not having an audience with her King. Without thinking he commented that she was not dressed in a manner for an audience with her King and she had tilted her head and looked at him with pitying eyes. When their eyes met he had cried and collapsed on the floor, he found himself in her warm embrace, his head resting on her bosom and his arms limp at his side. He let out the sorrow of seeing his father die, of returning home with only a third of his father's original army and for being so cantankerous towards the she-elf he loved. He never wanted to be King, he was happy as the Crown Prince; his tears began to dampen her dress as he let our his fear, anguish and sorrow while being held by the she-elf he loved.

She had that effect on him. She made him feel safe. He could be himself with her and she would not judge him. In her arms he was not the King, he was the young Prince who had eagerly stolen kisses and snuck away from archery training to be with the maiden that held him. 

Once his tears had been shed and she'd ushered and calmed him with kind words and her presence, he had pulled himself to his feet. She had walked out onto the balcony and her head was tilted towards the stars, but as he approached he saw her eyes were closed and she was breathing in the crisp night air. He had approached her silently carrying a mahogany box engraved with intricate golden carvings. Once he was behind her she had turned taking in one last deep breath and he opened the box. Her eyes had widened and she leaped at her King, causing him to drop the box and its contents to the floor. As they embraced he felt a warmth spread over him. He was happy.

\----------

He opened his eyes pulling himself away from his memories of her.He missed her. He missed her with every waking moment. He missed her when he saw their son. He even missed her when he interrogated prisoners.

He stood up and walked back into his bed chamber leaving the chair on the balcony. He turned and closed the doors to drown out the sounds of the festivities, he undressed and lay on his large and ornately hand carved bed. The bed frame was carved with patterns of leaves, branches and climbing flowers and vines and was the deep mahogany of his other furniture. He lay in the middle and stretched out his arms. It felt empty. It had since she had gone.

His thoughts then drifted to the gift her had given her following the birth of their son; they were gems of pure starlight. He sighed heavily knowing they were now with the dragon Smaug. He began to wonder if he would ever get those precious treasures back. He closed his eyes and remembered her face as she smiled cooing over their son wearing the gems he had given her.

\-----

They had been happy. Her parting had hurt him. Her parting made him feel like he was entering the abyss. Her parting was the second time in his long life that he had cried. He had opened his heart to her and she had warmed it, now she was gone he felt cold. He had never given any credence to man's concept of time but since her passing her understood what time meant. And he had a lot of it.

He tried not to think about her. He tried to push those memories to the back of his mind. She had brought him such happiness but his memories of her filled him with sadness. Her death had left a void in his heart, a void that nothing could fill and he wished his feelings of loss and sadness on no elf, human, wizard or hobbit. His mind drifted back to his son and his apparent secret rendezvous with the Captain of the Guard. He was resolved; he would warn the she-elf off his son.


End file.
